Rupeni loves his home

Rupeni Seduadua poses beside the Kia District School signboard on Kia Island, his home away from home. Picture: LUKE RAWALAI

VUTIA villager Rupeni Seduadua has lost his heart on the lovely island of Kia and has also fallen in love with the children of the island.

Twenty-eight-year-old Mr Seduadua describes Kia Island as his home away from home.

The Rewa man has a passion for teaching and part of this passion is his effort in ensuring the children of the island get a glimpse of the outside world through education and enlightenment.

Mr Seduadua said he had now taught on the island for several years and married to the love of his life who is from the island.

"I did not ever dream to come and fall in love with this beautiful island and its generous people," said Mr Seduadua.

"Something that challenges me a lot is the need to expose the children in rural schools such as Kia District School so that they are up to par with the changing world.

"Students are usually limited in their views and enclosed to the little village life that they are brought up in not aware of the changing world around them and the new things that are happening around them," he said.

Mr Seduadua is yet to have a child and he says that when he does he would like to move out of the island to expose his children to the world outside Kia and also give them a taste of the "real life out there".

"It does not matter if we live in the remotest spot on the planet, we will always be affected by globalisation in one way or another and we have to accept this or otherwise we will lag behind and be forgotten," said Mr Seduadua.

"I am ensuring that the children of Kia District School are part of the changes that are happening out there and one way to achieve this is by working closely with the Community Centred Conservation, a group from the United Kingdom which is focussing on the conservation of the environment.

"Through this program the children in the school are now aware of the greenhouse effect and the big problem that the world is going through if we do not take conservation seriously," he said.

Mr Seduadua said that through the program the children were aware of the threat that was affecting the marine ecosystem.

"I am proud to see the children marching on the reef of the island cleaning the reef in a bid to save the corals and I know that they are actively participating in solving the global problem of greenhouse effect," said Mr Seduadua.

"The reef rangers in our school are a proud group of children who are doing the small things that they can in actively conserving the marine ecosystem on Kia Island.

"We continue to thank groups like the AusAID and the ACAP for involving the school in renovation and upgrade works which has boosted the learning interest of students in the school," he said.

Mr Seduadua said he had plans of leaving the island and venturing out to start his own family and especially in keeping his children up to par with the developments in the global community.